Manually operated paper punching device

ABSTRACT

An improved manually operated paper punching device comprising a base plate, a cross bar fixed to the upper portion of at least one guide member secured to the base plate, a slidable member slidably mounted on the said guide member, a handle-carrying member pivotably attached to the fixed cross bar, a curved linking bar rotatably attached at both ends to the handlecarrying member and to the slidable member, and a punching blade holding member secured to the slidable member. This arrangement allows a thick stack of sheets to be punched through precisely at the desired position in a single punching operation with only a small amount of external force without causing local displacement of the sheets in the stack, and this simple structure of the punching device permits its manufacture in large numbers at a low cost.

United States Patent 1 Tanaka Aug. 7, 1973 MANUALLY OPERATED PAPER PUNCHING 1,806,704 5/ i931 Pace 83/588 X DEVICE P E A d R J h rtmary xammern rew u asz [75] Inventor. Norihito Tanaka, Osaka-City, @fiq qnigfgw-l liwi g fi Japan Attorney-E. F. Wenderoth, V. M. Creedon et al [73] Assignee: Ihit Industrial Co., Ltd., Osaka- [57] ABSTRACT Japan a An improved manually operated paper punching de- 2 Filed; Oct 12 1971 vice comprising a base plate, a cross bar fixed to the upper portion of at least one guide member secured to [21] Appl' 187,949 the base plate, a slidable member slidably mounted on the said guide member, a handle-carrying member piv- [30] Foreign Application Priorit D otably attached to the fixed cross bar, a curved linking Jan 8 1971 Japan 46/381 bar rotatably attached at both ends to the handlecarrying member and to the slidable member, and a 2 I U 3 4 4, 8 73 5 punching blade holding member secured to the slidable [5 1 U S C 8 I 5 a ig 2% member. This arrangement allows a thick stack of sheets to be punched through precisely at the desired [51] Int. Cl l h l [58] Field of Search ..83l45245'4, posmon m a Smge mg on y a 573 613 616 620 627 630, 601, 604 small amount of extema torce without caus nglocal 605 588 displacement of the sheets in the stack, and this simple structure of the punching device permits its manufac- [56] References Cited ture in large numbers at a low cost.

UNITED STATES PATENTS 10 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures 3,203,289 8/1965 Beekley 83/588 X 3,176,570 4/1965 Gaya 83/588 X Patented Aug. 7, 1973 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 NORIHITO TANAKA, Inventor 'IIO dZuMFAL Eu. l i

Attorneys Patented Aug. 7, 1973 3,150,514

3 Sheets-Sheet 2 NORIHIIO TANAKA, Inventor Attorneys Patented Aug. 7, 1973 3,750,514

3 Sheets-Sheet 3 NORIHITO TANAKA, Inventor Attorneys MANUALLY OPERATED PAPER PUNCHING DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the invention The present invention is concerned with a punching device, and more particularly, it relates to a manually operated paper punching device which permits a thick stack of sheets of paper to be punched through in a single punching step by the application of a small amount of force without causing any displacement of the position of the sheets in the stack.

2. Description of the prior art Various types of manually operated paper punching devices have been proposed and placed on the markets. However, these punching devices of the prior art invariably fail to punch holes through a thick stack of paper sheets in a single punching process without causing any displacement of the position of the sheets in the stack. Therefore, in case it is desired to punch holes through a thick stack of paper sheets, it is necessary to divide, prior to subjecting the sheets of paper to punching, this thick stack into a plurality of groups of a small number of sheets and to subject the resulting thin stacks of paper sheets to the punching process one group after another. Thus, the conventional paper punching devices require troublesome preparatory steps and have a low punching efficiency. Even when a thin stack of paper sheets is punched by the use of a conventional punching device, there often occurs undesirable displacement of the position of the sheets during the course of the punching process.

On the other hand, there is known a pape punching device which is electrically driven. The punching device of this type is designed to punch holes through a stack of paper sheets by rotating the punching blades by means of an electric motor. Therefore, this powerdriven punching device has the advantage that the punching operation can be performed with relative ease. On the other hand, however, it has a much greater disadvantage in that it requires a complicated structure and a large size, resulting in a high cost and a large floor area. Moreover, there is often a malfunction of the mechanism.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an improved manually operated paper punching device which eliminates the aforesaid drawbacks and disadvantages of the manually operated paper punching devices of the prior art.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved manually operated paper punching device which permits a thick stack of paper sheets to be punched through at a desired point easily in a single punching step by the application of a small amount of force to the handle member without requiring the stack of sheets to be first divided into groups of a small number of paper sheets.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an improved manually operated paper punching device which permits a thick stack of paper sheets to be punched through easily at desired positions in the paper sheets without causing any local displacement in the positions of the sheets in the stack.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an improved manually operated paper punching device of the type described which has a simple structure and is operated easily and can be manufactured in large numbers at a low cost.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved manually operated punching device of the type described which will not easily get out of order during use and has a prolonged service life.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The .drawings show a preferred example of the manually operated paper punching device of the present invention, in which like parts are indicated by like reference numerals.

FIG. I is a somewhat diagrammatic perspective view of the manually operated paper punching device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a somewhat diagrammatic front elevation of the punching device.

FIG. 3 is a somewhat diagrammatic side elevation of same.

FIG. 4 is a somewhat diagrammatic explanatory side elevation, showing the action of the handle carrying member and a curved linking member.

FIG. 5 is a somewhat diagrammatic explanatory illustration, on an enlarged scale, showing the mechanism for pressing the plate-like paper holding member downwardly onto the stack of paper sheets.

FIG. 6 is a somewhat diagrammatic vertical sectional view, on an enlarged scale, of the punching blade holding means.

FIG. 7 is a somewhat diagrammatic plan view of the bar type paper sheet holding member.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, there is shown a preferred example of the manually operated paper punching device according to the present invention. Reference numeral 1 designates a generally rectangular base plate. In this example, two cylindrical guide members 2 having the same size and length extend upright in spaced relationship from a longitudinal end portion of the base plate 1 to which the bottoms of these guide members are fixed. Numeral 3 designates a cross bar fixed horizontally to the upper portions of the guide members 2 A supporting member 4 is fixed to the central portion of the fixed cross bar 3. A handle rod 5 ismade of a hollow cylindrical metal rod having a straight portion of a substantial length with a rounded ball-like grip provided at the foremost end thereof, and an adjacent bent portion of a lesser length, the end portion of which is threaded. Numeral 6 designates a handle-carrying member which is made of a plastic material andhas a bulging top portion 6a and a threaded hole 6b formed vertically in the central portion of the said bulging top portion 6a for threadably receiving the threaded end of the bent portion of the said handle rod 5, and further has two spaced lugs 6c extending as integral members downwardly from the base portion of the said bulging top portion 6a. As noted in FIGS. 2 and 3, these two lugs. 6c each extend downwardly from the base portion of the bulging top portion 60 at a position adjacent to the front side thereof. The said threaded bent end portion of the handle rod 5, in this example, is threaded into the threaded receiving hole 6b so as to be fixed the member 6. The straight portion of this handle rod 5 extends into space in a direction way from the farther end of the longitudinal end edge of the base plate 1 in alignment with a plane through the longitudinal central line of the said base plate 1. It should be understood, however, that this handle rod can be made of a solid hard plastic material having a threaded end portion. Alternatively, this plastic rod 5 need not have a threaded end portion. In such a case, the elasticity of the plastic material is utilized so that the bent end portion of the handle rod 5 is forced into the bulging top portion 6a of the handle-carrying member 6 which is also made of the same plastic material, through a receiving hole 6b having no threaded inner wall and having a diameter slightly smaller than that of the handle rod 5. Or, further alternatively, the handle rod 5 may be molded integrally with the handle-carrying member 6. The handle-carrying member 6, in each of these examples, is rotatably attached to the supporting member 4 by a shaft 7 extending through the supporting member horizontally thereof.

A slidable member 8 having a substantial length but a much smaller thickness than that part of the length of the guide member 2 located between the bottom face of the cross bar 3 and the upper face of the base plate 1 is slidably mounted on each of the guide members 2, one on each guide member. These two slidable members 8 have the same size and length.

Numeral 9 designates curved linking bars each having one end pivotably attached by a pin to one side of the base portion of the handle-carrying member 6 and the other end pivotably attached by a pin 10a to that side of one of the two slidable members 8 which faces the other of these two slidable members. These two linking bars 9 are each attached to the said two members 6 and 8 in such a way that its convex side faces the longitudinal farther end of the rectangular base plate 1. Thus, by virtue of these two curved linking bars 9 and 9, the slidable members 8 can be moved upwardly and downwardly on the guide members 2, respectively, as the handle-carrying member 6 is rotated about its axis 7 by moving the handle rod 5 clockwise and counter-clockwise, respectively in FIG. 3. It should be noted that the point at which the one end of each linking bar 9 is pivotably attached to one side of the base portion of the handle-carrying member 6 is such that, when the slidable members 8 are simultaneously moved upwardly on the cylindrical guide members 2 by rotating the handle-carrying member 6 as the handle rod 5 is moved clockwise in FIG. 3, i.e., in the direction away from the longitudinal farther end of the base plate 1, the point at which the handle-carrying member 6 is pivotably attached by the pins 10 to one ends of the curved linking bars 9 will, at the extreme end of the clockwise pivotal movement of the handle-carrying member 6, be located above the point at which the handle-carrying member 6 is pivotably supported by the shaft 7 on the fixed cross bar 3, with a displacement through an angle 6 backwardly or toward the right side in FIG. 4 beyond the dead point which islocated just above the axis of the shaft 7, as shown in FIG. 4. Because of this arrangement, it will be understood that, as the handle-carrying member 6 is rotated counterclockwise in FIG. 3, the slidable members 8 are caused to move downwardly on their guide members 2. Conversely, the slidable members 8 will slide upwardly on their guide members 2 as the handle-carrying member 6 is tilted clockwise in FIG. 3. Accordingly, at the extreme end of this clockwise rotation of the handlecarrying member 6, the central axis of this pin 10 at which the said one end of the curved linking bar 9 is pivotably attached to the handle-carrying member 6 is positioned beyond the dead point relative to the fulcrum 7 of the handle-carrying member 6. Thus, it is possible to prevent the handle-carrying member 6 from making a casual counter-clockwise rotation in FIG. 3 from its position at the extreme end of the clockwise rotation. Accordingly, a casual downward movement of the slidable members 8 which is accompanied by the downward movement of the punching blade members which will be described later is prevented. In this way, the handle-carrying member 6 and accordingly the slidable members 8 are held stably in their aforesaid positions of rest whenever the punching device is not in use.

A punching blade holding bar member 11 to which two spaced punching blade members 12 are secured is secured to the front side of the lower portion of the slidable members 8. Accordingly, these punching blade members 12 are positioned at a substantial distance from the plane formed by connecting the front faces of the two guide members 2 as shown in FIG. 3. This punching blade holding bar member 1 l is securely supported, at its longitudinal opposite end portions, on frame members 13, respectively, each having a substantially U-shaped configuration with the top as well as the bottom being bent to form this U-shape by an upper flange 13a and a lower flange 13b. In this example, the punching blade holding member 11 is secured at the said end portions to the upper faces of the lower flanges 13b, respectively. Two slidable rods 14 are secured at one end in spaced relationship to the longitudinal opposite end portions of the plate-like paper holding member 15. These two rods 14 pass loosely through the said opposite end portions of the punching blade-holding bar member 11 through holes formed therethrough. The upper end portions of these slidable rods 14 are allowed to pass loosely through openings 16 which are formed through the central portions of the upper flanges 13a of the frame members 13, respectively. Furthermore, these two slidable rods 14 are provided, at their tops located beyond the upper flanges 13a, with stop flanges 17, respectively, which serve to limit the downward sliding movement of the slidable rods 14 relative to the upper flange 13a. These stop flanges 17 may be omitted. A coilspring 18 is positioned around each slidable rod. 14 and is-secured at one end of each slidable rod by an appropriate means above the punching-blade holding bar member 11, such as a collar 19 fixed to the slidable rod 14 for engaging the lower end of the coil spring 18, and also the coil spring engage the other end, the lower'face the upper flange 13a.

The plate-like paper holding member 15 is secured to the bottom of the slidable rods 14 in such a way that the lower face of this plate-like paper holding member 15 lies in spaced parallel relationship with the upper face of the rectangular base plate 1.

As shown in FIG. 6, the punching blade members 12 are with hollow cylindrical tubes having an upper larger diameter portion and a lower smaller diameter portion. The upper larger diameter portion of the punching blade member 12 is provided with a recessed groove 124 formed therearound. These punching blade members 12 are detachably received in blade receiving holes lla, respectively, which are formed vertically in spaced relationship through the blade holding bar member 11. These punching blade members 12 can be adjusted in the blade receiving holes 11a by a position adjusting screw having a threaded shank and a top flange having a diameter larger than that of the threaded shank. This position adjusting screw 20 is threaded into the threaded hole portion 11b which is provided above and adjacent to the blade receiving hole 11a in alignment therewith.

A position fixing screw 21 is threadably inserted through a threaded hole formed horizontally in the front side of the punching blade holding bar member 11 in such a way that the foremost end of this screw 21 is brought into engagement with the cylindrical face of that portion of the punching blade member 12 which is located in the recessed groove 12a. It should be understood that the recessed groove 12a has a substantial breadth much greater than the diameter of the end of the position fixing screw 21. The punching edges of the blade members 12 can be adjusted to a desired position above the face of the stack of paper sheets supported on the base plate 1 through the movement permitted by this breadth of the recessed groove. The position of each punching blade member 12 is fixed by the cooperation of both the position adjusting screw20 and the position fixing screw 21 in such a way that, first the lowermost end of each position adjusting screw 20 is determined by rotating the latter, then the punching blade member 12 is inserted into the hole 11a until the upper end thereof contacts the said lowermost end of the adjusting screw 20, and thereafter the position fixing screw 21 is threaded into the said horizontal threaded hole of the punching blade holding member 11 until it firmly holds the blade member 12 at that position.

The aforesaid mechanism for adjusting the position of the punching blade members 12 may be replaced by an arrangement in which, instead of providing an adjusting screw 20 in the threaded hole portion 11b formed at the upper end portion of the blade receiving hole 11a in vertical alignment therewith, the threaded hole 11b can be in the form of a funnel or tapered configuration having a lesser diameter as it goes downwardly and the threaded adjusting member can have a matching tapered configuration. In either event, the adjustment of the position is accomplished by turning the adjusting screw or adjusting member 20.

Since the punching blade members 12 can have their positions adjusted in the manner stated above, it will be understood that, in case oneof the punching blade members has become displaced during the use of the punching device, this improper position of the particular blade member 12 can be corrected easily, so that proper punching operation can be resumed quickly. It should be understood also that, in case the punching device has two punching blade members 12, it is only necessary to have one of these blade members provided with the blade position adjusting and fixing means, so that by adjusting the position of the blade edge in the manner described above, the position of the punching edge of this blade member can be aligned with that of the other blade member. Depending on the need, however, the two blade members may both be provided with the blade position adjusting and fixing means.

The plate-like paper holding member 15 according to one example shown in FIG. 7 has an upwardly bent leading edge formed on the front side, i.e., on the side facing the longitudinal farther end of the rectangular base plate 1. A plurality of spaced notches 22 are formed at the opposite edge of this paper holding member 15 at portions corresponding to the positions of the lowermost ends of the blade members 12. These notches 22 are intended for loosely receiving the punching edges of the blade members therethrough. It should be noted that these notches may be of any shape provided that they can pass the punching edges of the blade members therethrough. The plate-like paper holding member 15 may be arranged so that at least two of the notches 22 are continuous with each other to provide a single elongated common recess so that the punching positions of the blade members 12 may be adjusted easily within the length of this recess, without replacing the paper holding member 15 having holes or notches formed at fixed positions by another paper holding member 15 having notches or holes provided at positions different from those of the first paper holding member.

A description will now be given of the operation of the paper punching device having the foregoing arrangement.

Let us now assume that a stack A of a number of paper sheets is placed at a proper position on the base plate 1, with the region to be punched lying under the plate-like paper holding member 15. Thereafter, the handle rod 5 is rotated counter-clockwise in FIG. 3 from its resting position to cause a downward sliding movement of the blade holding bar member 1 1 via the slidable members 8 and via the curved linking bars 9. During the course of this downward movement of the blade holding bar member 11, the plate-like paper holding member 15 is brought into pressure contact with the upper face of the top sheet of paper in the stack A. Accordingly, the sheets of paper in the stack Aare firmly held in place in the stack. in this stable state of the paper sheets, the handle rod 5 is rotated further counter-clockwise. Along therewith, the punching blade members 12 are caused to move downwardly through the receiving notches 22 onto the face of the paper sheets in the stack A and they are punched through by these blades in a one step punching operation, without the occurrence of any displacement of the sheets in the stack.

The confetti which is produced from punching is pushed upwardly through the hollow tubular channel within each blade member l2, and comes out from the hollow upper ends of these blade members. By attaching a confetti-receiving bag not shown "to the blade holding bar member 11, or by attaching a confettireceiving cover member, not shown either, to the entire upper surface thereof so-as to cover this face, it is possible to prevent the scattering of confetti coming out from the tubular blade members 12 and also to facilitate the discarding of the collected. confetti.

it should be understood that, as stated above, the punching blade members 12 are provided in the form of hollow tubes. This configuration of the blade members enables the punching of paper sheets through the stack to be accomplished quite smoothly and with relatively light pressure, and ensures that the produced confetti to be passed upwardly through the tubular channels of the blade members so that the confetti can be collected at the top of these tubes to facilitate the discarding of the thus collected confetti.

The distance between the punching blade member or the row of the blade members and the columnar guide member or the row of the columnar guide members may be made adjustable by providing that the threaded bolts 23 which extend from the slidable members 8 for securing the punching blade holding bar member 11 to these slidable members have a structure similar to that of the punching blade members in that they each have a recessed groove formed therearound so that they can be fixed at a desired position relative to the slidable members 8 by a screw like the fixing screw 21 at right angle to the bolt 23, in such a way as described previously and as shown in FIG. 6. According to this arrangement, the fixing screw, in this example, is screwed into a threaded vertical hole corresponding to the horizontal hole for the insertion of a screw 21 for fixing the position of the blade member 12 which is formed in the upper face of the blade-carrying bar member 11 to firmly engage the bolt 23, thereby fixing the position of the said member 11 at a desired position relative to the slidable members 8.

It should be understood that the structure of the plate-like paper holding member 15 is not an essential component member for the present invention. This paper holding member 15 need not be used, in which case the stack A of the paper sheets is pressed upon by one of the hands of the operator at the time of punchmg.

It should be understood that the foregoing description is directed to a preferred embodiment of the present invention and that many other modifications and changes of the device may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

I claim:

1. A manually operated paper punching device, comprising:

a cross bar fixed to the upper portion of at least one columnar guide member extending upright from a base plate,

a handle-carrying member having a handle rod thereon and being pivotably attached to the said fixed cross bar,

at least one slidable member mounted slidably on the said guide member,

at least one linking member having one end pivotably attached to the said handle-carrying member and the other end pivotably attached to the said slidable member, and

a punching blade holding member slidably secured to the lower portion of the said slidable member and carrying at least one punching blade member.

2. A manually operated paper punching device according to claim 1, in which:

the said punching blade member is a hollow cylindrical tube.

3. A manually operated paper punching device according to claim 2, in which:

the said punching blade member is detachably and adjustably mounted on the punching blade holding member.

4. A manually operated paper punching device according to claim 1, in which:

the device further comprises a plate-like paper holding member mounted on said punching blade member for sliding movement parallel to and relative to the punching blade holding member and spring loaded toward said base plate.

5. A manually operated paper punching device according to claim 3, in which:

the device further comprises a plate-like paper holding member mounted on said punching blade member for sliding movement parallel to and relative to the punching blade holding member and spring loaded toward said base plate.

6. A manually operated paper punching device according to claim 5, in which:

the spring-loaded sliding movement of the plate-like paper holding member is accomplished by the provision of:

a U-shaped frame member secured at one end to the said punching blade holding member,

a slidable rod secured at one end to the paper holding member and loosely passing at the other end through the punchingblade holding member and through the other end of the U-shaped frame member, and

a coil spring secured at one end to the slidable rod above the punching blade holding member and engaged at the other end by the said other end of the U-shaped frame member.

7.'A manually operated paper punching device according to claim 1, in which:

the point at which the handle-carrying member is pivotably attached to one end of the linking member is positioned above the point at which the said handle-carrying member is pivotably attached to the fixed cross bar and yet beyond the dead point of the lastmentioned point, whenever the handlecarrying member is rotated up to an extreme position at which the slidable member is located in its upwardly shifted position. A

8. A manually operated paper punching device according to claim 1, in which the said linking member is a curved bar. i

9. A manually operated paper" punching device according to claim 3, in which:

the said punching blade member. is slidable within the blade holding member and is fixed by a screw extending horizontally through the blade holding member and engaging the punching blade member.

10. A manually operated paper punching device according to claim 9, in which: i

the punching blade holding member is adjustable relative to the slidable member, said slidable member having at least one bolt extending from the slidable member and slidably received in the punching blade holding member and a screw threadably inserted into said blade holding member for fixing said blade holding member to said bolt. 

1. A manually operated paper punching device, comprising: a cross bar fixed to the upper portion of at least one columnar guide member extending upright from a base plate, a handle-carrying member having a handle rod thereon and being pivotably attached to the said fixed cross bar, at least one slidable member mounted slidably on the said guide member, at least one linking member having one end pivotably attached to the said handle-carrying member and the other end pivotably attached to the said slidable member, and a punching blade holding member slidably secured to the lower portion of the said slidable member and carrying at least one punching blade member.
 2. A manually operated paper punching device according to claim 1, in which: the said punching blade member is a hollow cylindrical tube.
 3. A manually operated paper punching device according to claim 2, in which: the said punching blade member is detachably and adjustably mounted on the punching blade holding member.
 4. A manually operated paper punching device according to claim 1, in which: the device further comprises a plate-like paper holding member mounted on said punching blade member for sliding movement parallel to and relative to the punching blade holding member and spring loaded toward said base plate.
 5. A manually operated paper punching device according to claim 3, in which: the device further comprises a plate-like paper holding member mounted on said punching blade member for sliding movement parallel to and relative to the punching blade holding member and spring loaded toward said base plate.
 6. A manually operated paper punching device according to claim 5, in which: the spring-loaded sliding movement of the plate-like paper holding member is accomplished by the provision of: a U-shaped frame member secured at one end to the said punching blade holding member, a slidable rod secured at one end to the paper holding member and loosely passing at the other end through the punchingblade holding member and through the other end of the U-shaped frame member, and a coil spring secured at one end to the slidable rod above the punching blade holding member and engaged at the other end by the said other end of the U-shaped frame member.
 7. A manually operated paper punching device according to claim 1, in which: the point at which the handle-carrying member is pivotably attached to one end of the linking member is positioned above the point at which the said handle-carrying member is pivotably attached to the fixed cross bar and yet beyond the dead point of the lastmentioned point, whenever the handle-carrying member is rotated up to an extreme position at which the slidable member is located in its upwardly shifted position.
 8. A manually operated paper punching device according to claim 1, in which the said linking member is a curved bar.
 9. A manually operated paper punching device according to claim 3, in which: the said punching blade member is slidable within the blade holding member and is fixed by a screw extending horizontally through the blade holding member and engaging the punching blade member.
 10. A manually operated paper punching device according to claim 9, in which: the punching blade holding member is adjustable relative to the slidable member, said slidable member having at least one bolt extending from the slidable member and slidably received in the punching blade holding member and a screw threadably inserted into said blade holding member for fixing said blade holding member to said bolt. 